> Survey:
> 1. How long have you been working where you are working?
22 years.
> 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
25 days.
> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?
Nothing extra here.

I think that this is regulated by law here in Sweden and I have the minimum,
stipulated by law.

> Survey:
> > 1. How long have you been working where you are working?
> 7 years.
> > 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
> 15 days.
> > 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?
> I buy one extra week.
>
> Pete
>
> > --

Tony Smith wrote:
>> Survey:
>> 1. How long have you been working where you are working?
>> 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
>> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?
>>
>
>
> Lots of contractor types on this list. Since you already know our answers,
> should we bother? :)
>
> Tony
>
>

Only if you want to start a discussion of how being a contractor allows
you certain benefits in exchange for other benefits.
-
MK

Starting at 15 days for engineers. Manages got more, directors got even
more, etc. Technician may only get 10 days if I am not wrong.

> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?

I think they add one day per year with a cap. Not so sure now. Or maybe
they add 5 days after 5 years of service. But many people will leave before
that anyway if the economy is not bad. Quite some colleagues jump
every 1 or two years. I do not so I lose out in terms of salary and title.

The US colleagues are different, quite some of them already for the
companies for 15, 20, 25, 30 years or more.

Martin Klingensmith wrote:
> Survey:
> 1. How long have you been working where you are working?
> 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?
>
1. 6 years
2. 20 days (start with 15 days, every 5 years on job gives 5 more days
vacation to max of 25 days at 10 years)
3. 25 days

Then again, I work in the finance industry in the IT field in Toronto,
Canada. This may have no relevance to EE's anywhere... ;-)

One big 'perk' where I work is the sabbatical. Every 5 years you get a
4-week sabbatical to use for any purpose in addition to your regular
leave. The 4 weeks consists of 2-weeks paid, and the other two weeks
either from your regular vacation time, or unpaid. This sabbatical
*must* be taken as a 4-week chunk, and it is officially frowned on to
contact the office in any way. The timing of the sabbatical must be
agreed on in advance to ensure it is compatible with business
requirements, but 'the-powers-that-be' are normally very lenient with
the policy. I had a sabbatical earlier this year. Used it to travel to
South Africa, and also do some minor renovations to my house. It was
very re-invigorating, and a real pleasure to get back to work only to
realise I had forgotten many of the passwords I require.

On Wed, Nov 14, 2007 at 10:20:44AM -0500, Rolf wrote:
> Then again, I work in the finance industry in the IT field in Toronto,
> Canada. This may have no relevance to EE's anywhere... ;-)
>
> One big 'perk' where I work is the sabbatical. Every 5 years you get a
> 4-week sabbatical to use for any purpose in addition to your regular
> leave. The 4 weeks consists of 2-weeks paid, and the other two weeks
> either from your regular vacation time, or unpaid. This sabbatical
> *must* be taken as a 4-week chunk, and it is officially frowned on to
> contact the office in any way. The timing of the sabbatical must be

This sabbatical isn't, in part, required for audits is it?

I know I've heard that some finance positions require employees to take
vacations every so often just to make sure that the auditors get a
chance to look at the books without the bookkeepers present...

> agreed on in advance to ensure it is compatible with business
> requirements, but 'the-powers-that-be' are normally very lenient with
> the policy. I had a sabbatical earlier this year. Used it to travel to
> South Africa, and also do some minor renovations to my house. It was
> very re-invigorating, and a real pleasure to get back to work only to
> realise I had forgotten many of the passwords I require.

Classic!

Never done that myself, but I have come close, coming back to network
admin job and realising I couldn't remember the name of the nmap
utility.

1 yr, not enough, its all PTO..sick, vacation, etc....all in one. Think its like 2 hrs/week

Martin Klingensmith <EraseMEmartinspam_OUTTakeThisOuTnnytech.net> wrote: Survey:
1. How long have you been working where you are working?
2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?

> [piclist-bouncesspam_OUTmit.edu] On Behalf Of Martin Klingensmith
> Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 7:05 AM
> To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
> Subject: [OT] vacation time
>
> Survey:
> 1. How long have you been working where you are working?
> 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?

Other than the first one, very complex questions. I doubt you will get
many readily comparable answers. No two places I've worked have had
even remotely similar systems of vacation accounting.

Q1: Almost 14 years.

Q2: Questions for you, and other responders: Does 'vacation' include
paid holidays, and if not, how many paid holidays are there? The number
of paid holidays/year sometimes varies significantly between employers
and countries. Does 'vacation' include sick time? Sometimes they're
separate; sometimes combined.

My answers: There are 9 paid holidays per year in addition to vacation
time. For each paid holiday, you also get 3.5 additional hours of
vacation time (31.5 hours/year). In addition to that, I get 15 hours of
vacation time per month (180 hours/year). So that's about 26.5
days/year, plus the 9 holidays. There is no separate sick time - it
comes out of your vacation time.

Q3: Maximum total amount you can have banked up? Or the maximum earning
rate, which usually varies with longevity? I suspect you mean the
total, in which case there is no maximum here. I've known people with
over 1000 hours 'banked'. Regarding rate, 15 hours/month is the maximum
rate, which I think I hit at 10 years. I think the rate starts at 10
and increases .5 hours/month each year to the maximum.

Another question: Do you take your vacation, or sell it? Here, as long
as you keep a minimum number of hours banked, we can sell vacation at a
rate of 50% of your base pay. After taxes, it's not a very good deal,
but sometimes you need the cash.

Once worked at Intel, which had the most refreshing policy - you get two
weeks a year. You're a professional, so we don't monitor your time. No
'vacation request' forms, no timesheets. Take it when you need it; let
us know your schedule; we trust you. What a load of BS. I have never
worked anywhere where my time was monitored more closely.

Also once worked at a place where even an entry level guy got 30
days/year plus holidays and sick time. But if you took a Monday-Friday
vacation, it counted as 9 days because you had to include the weekends
(unless you were physically present to 'sign out' on Monday, and 'sign
in' on Friday. - U.S. military (30 years ago, don't know how it works
now.)

1. One year
2. 10 days (2 weeks) plus we get bankers holidays so 10 more
3. Don't earn more as time goes on. So theoretical max is 10.

On Nov 14, 2007 9:05 AM, Martin Klingensmith <@spam@martinKILLspamnnytech.net> wrote:
> Survey:
> 1. How long have you been working where you are working?
> 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?
> -

Vacation time seems to be getting smaller and smaller, here in the US
anyway. I work for myself now, but when i first started to work
(1988) we got 1 day for every month we worked (12 a year) which
increased to 18 a year after 3 years. We could accrue vacation time
without limit. Likewise for sick leave, which was 12 days a year.

After we got bought out (Measurex), it changed to a system where we
got an extra week for each 5 years we worked there. Then Honeywell
bought Measurex, and it remained the same except we could buy or sell
a week of vacation time each year. Most everyone sold a week, I
bought a week.

I left them and went to work for a small company (a re-birth of a
company that went belly up). I got 3 weeks a year, and had to fight
for that.

I'm very happy with my current system, where I basically work as I
need/want to. It's pretty self regulating. I cannot see myself
(willingly) going back to working for someone else again, for this
reason alone.

>1. One year
>2. 10 days (2 weeks) plus we get bankers holidays so 10 more
>3. Don't earn more as time goes on. So theoretical max is 10.
>
>
>On Nov 14, 2007 9:05 AM, Martin Klingensmith <KILLspammartinKILLspamnnytech.net> wrote:
>> Survey:
>> 1. How long have you been working where you are working?
>> 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
>> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?
>> --

Survey:
1. How long have you been working where you are working?
12 Years
2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
Limited only by my need to succeed.
3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?

Peter Todd wrote:
> This sabbatical isn't, in part, required for audits is it?
>
> I know I've heard that some finance positions require employees to take
> vacations every so often just to make sure that the auditors get a
> chance to look at the books without the bookkeepers present...
>
>

Naah, I know the type of audit you refer to, but, in our company, it is
purely related to 'de-stressing' (and maintaining low(er) turnover ...).

Our company provides software to big financial institutions (banks,
insurers, etc.). We don't actually manage our 'own' money, so there is
no risk of us embezzling or other fraud activities like there could be
at a bank. About the worst I could do to 'defraud' my employer is to
call in sick when I'm healthy.... ;-). Oh, that and also 'borrow' pens
from the stationary cupboard.{Quote hidden}

>> agreed on in advance to ensure it is compatible with business
>> requirements, but 'the-powers-that-be' are normally very lenient with
>> the policy. I had a sabbatical earlier this year. Used it to travel to
>> South Africa, and also do some minor renovations to my house. It was
>> very re-invigorating, and a real pleasure to get back to work only to
>> realise I had forgotten many of the passwords I require.
>>
>
> Classic!
>
> Never done that myself, but I have come close, coming back to network
> admin job and realising I couldn't remember the name of the nmap
> utility.
>

For me it was somewhat embarrassing because not only did I forget the
one password, but, I remembered it 'wrong', and as a result, I locked up
my account, which took intervention from the system administrators to
rectify, along with the wise-cracks from them like "People comming back
from sabbatical need to go on the newbie's course again". Apparently
SysAdmin intervention is required for most sabbatical returnee's (mostly
because we have a password policy which requires password changes every
few months, and people's password expire in their absence...).

Back to somewhat on-topic. Our company also has, in addition to the
standard leave, and sabbaticals, the concept of 'personal days'. We get
two per calendar year. They are to account for the fact that we have a
diverse cultural population at work, and not all religious holidays are
recognized officially. Thus, all employees are encouraged to use
personal days to celebrate Eid, Yom Kippur, etc. Those who are
Christians get most of their holy days as public holidays anyways, and
personal days are typically used as 'mental health' days, or, in my
case, I typically use a personal day to go Christmas shopping!

Finally, there is no limit to sick days, if you are actually sick.
Absences of more than 2 consecutive days officially require a doctor's
note, but I have never heard of this actually being requested. Absences
of more than 2 weeks officially invoke employment insurance, though I
only know of one person that has exceeded two weeks, and the company
just carried him without any red tape (he ruptured his appendix and was
seriously ill for a couple of weeks, and took another week to return to
work...). I was off for a week when I had my gall bladder removed, and
no official red-tape was required (beyond indicating that time as 'sick
leave' on my timesheets).

Finally, because of the work pressures that sometimes arise, the company
has a formal 'time at manager's discretion' concept. A while ago I did
about 4 months of long hard work preparing for an overseas client visit,
which culminated in a 2-week trip to Europe. My weekly timesheet was
routinely in excess of 50 hours in that time period. After the
(successful) trip I negotiated a week off to re-compense my 'hard work'.

Basically, the way my company deals with leave is one of the best I've
heard of... they expect really hard work, but have a suitable reward
policy... they also pay well ;-)

Hmmm... that's more info than I was expecting to put in to this
survey... ;-)

On Nov 14, 2007, at 6:05 AM, Martin Klingensmith wrote:
>
> 1. How long have you been working where you are working?
20 years.

> 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
4 weeks. plus 1 "personal floating holiday." Plus 9 company
holidays. The 4 week number is constant
regardless of length of employment, and it's "PTO" that includes
"sick days" as well as "vacation" (get sick, lose vacation.) It
seemed pretty generous in the early days.

> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?
You can accrue up to 240 hours if you've been here less than
five years, or up to 280 hours if you've been here more than
five years ("Congratulations on your 5-y anniversary. Feel free
to take less vacation now!")

It all seemed pretty generous back in the old days (I believe
most companies only offer two or three weeks to recent employees),
and not so much now. OTOH, the company is flexible WRT
telecommuting and flex time and such. I've never felt like
I had to use "PTO" time for a dentist appt...

Martin Klingensmith wrote:
> Survey:
> 1. How long have you been working where you are working?
> 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?
>
Thanks for the responses. I was just being nosy and wanted to compare.
I'm sure it was interesting to others as well.

The official policy here is: 9 holiday/sick days
5 days after 6 months, 10 days after 1 year. It accumulates but you
can't use more than 10 days in 1 year. I don't know how that works.

A cursory comparison shows me that your company's policy is probably
more favorable for the employee.

> 2. How many days of paid vacation time do you get?
4 weeks plus "Statutory Holidays" - About 6 days - plus 1 week
"Long service".
The 4 weeks plus stat. days is a legal requirement in NZ.

> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?

The long service leave starts after 5 years.

I can accumulate Long service leave indefinately, or cash it in for
the money. Other leave accumulates but I'm under pressure to use some
now, with about 6 weeks worth saved up and another 4 weeks about to be
added.

Martin Klingensmith wrote:
> The official policy here is: 9 holiday/sick days
> 5 days after 6 months, 10 days after 1 year. It accumulates but you
> can't use more than 10 days in 1 year. I don't know how that works.

It doesn't make any sense, as stated. You may need to review your company's
PTO policy (were you given a copy?).

> Several people mentioned the number nine. What is the official list?

For 2008:

New Year's Day Tuesday, January 1
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Monday, January 21
Memorial Day Monday, May 26
Independence Day Friday, July 4
Labor Day Monday, September 1
Thanksgiving Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28
Christmas Thursday, December 25
Bridging Holiday Friday, December 26

On 11/15/07, Vitaliy <spamEraseME.....maksimov.org> wrote:
> Martin Klingensmith wrote:
> > The official policy here is: 9 holiday/sick days
> > 5 days after 6 months, 10 days after 1 year. It accumulates but you
> > can't use more than 10 days in 1 year. I don't know how that works.
>
> It doesn't make any sense, as stated. You may need to review your
> company's PTO policy (were you given a copy?).

That is kind of not good at all even according to Singapore standard.
In Singapore engineers are treated ok but not as good as Europe or
USA in general because of the need to maintain competitiveness.

Most common policy here for engineers. Technicians are in general
treated similar (slightly lower but they can join the union and has
voting power in the union).

1) 13-15 days starting paid vacation. This refers to working days.

2) 14 sick days (if you go to the company doctor, the charges will normally
be paid by the company).

3) Normally one year will give you one extra day with certain cap (say 21
days for engineers).

And for over-time above 44 hours (not paid in general), it depends
on the job and company. Some managers will grant you extra
hours off (or even days off) if you do lots of OT (normally based on
mutual trust, not stated in the HR books).

On 11/15/07, Vitaliy <EraseMEspammaksimov.org> wrote:
> > There are 9 paid holidays per year in addition to vacation
> > time.
>
> Several people mentioned the number nine. What is the official list?
> --

> 3. If you still "earn" vacation time, what is the theoretical maximum?

There's a very high "cap" but the company has been reevaluating this,
too many people are "hoarding" PTO time and not taking it, and they're
starting to force people to take "mandatory" PTO, starting with some
days around Thanksgiving week this year.

If you're needed for a business-continuity purpose (mostly direct
customer support or sales positions - engineering will be away,
mostly), you can work during that week with manager's approval, but
you'll be required to take that day off sometime before the end of the
year.

They're doing this because too many people are "hoarding" their PTO
time, which is becoming a large line item on the overall budget, I
think. So we all had to take 5 additional "mandatory" days off
between now and New Year's Eve, company-wide to make it "fair". I
think it would have been simpler to just tell us we had to take X
number of days and let us pick the days... but whatever. I'll be
working during part of the "mandatory" shut-down, since I already have
customer projects and also help cover the support phones...

So I guess I'll take more time off toward Christmas or something. Not
sure yet. Since we already have that week generally off, I guess
not. Maybe an extra day before New Years to start celebrating
early? :-) Still need to look at a calendar and figure that one out.

On Nov 14, 2007 9:17 PM, Vitaliy <EraseMEspamspamspamBeGonemaksimov.org> wrote:
> > There are 9 paid holidays per year in addition to vacation
> > time.
>
> Several people mentioned the number nine. What is the official list?

My company has the following holidays in 2007 (2008 list not out yet):
New Years Day -- Jan 1
Good Friday -- Apr 6
Memorial Day -- May 28
Independence Day -- Jul 4
Labor Day -- Sep 3
Thanksgiving Day -- Nov 22
Day after Thanksgiving -- Nov 23
Christmas eve -- Dec 24
Christmas day -- Dec 25
we also get our birthday off (but, of course, that is different for
everyone).

Of course, I wonder how many days reading/replying to PICLIST
accumulate to in a year, and can they be considered holidays?

Actually, my 14 years here were split between two different periods with
a 5 year separation. When I came back, they counted my previous years
for the purpose of determining my vacation rate. They didn't give me my
stock options back however...

And, now that I look, we only get 8 holidays, not 9. We don't
automatically get the day after Thanksgiving.